Vienna, August 6 (RFE/RL) -- The countries trying to negotiate a permanent peace settlement over Nagorno-Karabakh have begun discussions on a possible new initiative to break the current stalemate.

The talks are between members of the 11-nation group created by
The Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE) to end the eight-year-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the future of the ethnic Armenian enclave.

The goal is to draw up a modest plan to present to Armenia and Azerbaijan when the peace negotiations resume late next month, an OSCE spokesman in Vienna told RFE/RL today.

The negotiations were suspended last month for the second time this year because of the lack of progress and the refusal of any side to make real concAug 8 20:10:48 afpd[9577]: afp_enumerate: stat BBBB.HTML: No such file or directory essions or accept compromises which would take the talks forward.

The OSCE wants some progress before the OSCE summit meeting of heads of Government in Lisbon in December, he said. It could take several years before the conflicting parties reach agreement on the complex political and military issues involved, but agreement on a declaration of principles would be a start, said the spokesman.